Samsung NV10 Review

Image Quality

All of the sample images in this Review were taken using
the 10 megapixel Super Fine mode, which gives an average image
size of around 4.5Mb.

Noise

There are 5 ISO settings available on the Samsung NV10 which
you can select at any time if the camera is in the normal
shooting mode. Here are some 100% crops which show the noise
levels for each ISO setting:

ISO 100 (100% crop)

ISO 200 (100% crop)

ISO 400 (100% crop)

ISO 800 (100% crop)

ISO 1000 (100% crop)

There is no discernible noise at the slowest setting of
ISO 100, as you would expect, but at ISO 200 noise is already
appearing. By ISO 400 it is very obvious, together with coloured
artifacts and some blurring of detail. ISO 800 is for emergency
use only, whilst ISO 1000 is virtually unusable.

Sharpening

Here are two 100% crops which have been Saved as Web - Quality
50 in Photoshop. The right-hand image has had some sharpening
applied in Photoshop. The out-of-the camera images are very
slightly soft at the default sharpening setting of Normal.
You can change the in-camera sharpening level to one of the
preset levels (Soft, Normal or Vivid) if you don't like the
default look.

Original
(100% Crop)

Sharpened (100% Crop)

File Quality

The Samsung NV10 has 3 different image quality settings available,
with Super Fine being the highest quality option. Here are
some 100% crops which show the quality of the various options,
with the file size shown in brackets.

10M
Super Fine (4.64Mb) (100% Crop)

10M
Fine (2.43Mb) (100% Crop)

10M
Normal (1.66Mb) (100% Crop)

Chromatic Aberrations

The Samsung NV10 suffered quite badly from chromatic aberrations
during the review. Obvious purple fringing was present around
the edges of objects in high-contrast situations, and also
often in places where you wouldn't really expect it, as shown
in the examples below.

Example
1 (100% Crop)

Example
2 (100% Crop)

Example
3 (100% Crop)

Example
4 (100% Crop)

Macro

The Samsung NV10 offers a Macro setting that allows you to
focus on a subject that is 4cms away from the camera when
the lens is set to wide-angle. The first image shows how close
you can get to the subject (in this case a compact flash card).
The second image is a 100% crop.

Macro Shot

Macro Shot (100% Crop)

Flash

The flash settings on the Samsung NV10 are Auto, Red Eye,
Fill In, Slow Sync and Off. These shots of a magnolia coloured
wall were taken at a distance of 1.5m.

Flash Off - Wide Angle (35mm)

Auto Flash - Wide Angle (35mm)

Flash Off - Telephoto (105mm)

Auto Flash - Telephoto (105mm)

And here are some shots of yours truly. As you can see, neither
the Auto setting or the Red Eye option caused any amount of
red-eye.

Auto

Auto (100% Crop)

Flash - Red-Eye Reduction

Flash - Red-Eye Reduction (100%
Crop)

Night Shot

The Samsung NV10's maximum shutter speed is 15 seconds, which
is good news if you're seriously interested in night photography.
The shot below was taken using a shutter speed of 10 seconds,
aperture of f/13.1 at ISO 100. I've included a 100% crop of
the image to show what the quality is like.

Night Shot

Night Shot (100% Crop)

Advanced Shake Reduction

The Samsung NV10 has an Advanced Shake Reduction mode, which
allows you to take sharp photos at slower shutter speeds than
other digital cameras. To test this, I took 2 handheld shots
of the same subject with the lens set to the same focal length,
with the ISO speed set to 100. The first shot was taken with
the camera set to Program mode, the second with it set to
the ASR mode. Here is a 100% crop of the image to show the
results.

Anti Shake Off (100% Crop)

Anti Shake On (100% Crop)

1/20th, f/5.1, ISO 100

1/40th, f/5.1, ISO 200

1/8th, f/5.1, ISO 100

1/15th, f/5.1, ISO 200

As you can see, with Advanced Shake Reduction on, the images
are definitely sharper than with it turned off. The Samsung
NV10 appears to increase the ISO speed if neccessary and perform
some extra in-camera processing (it takes a few seconds for
the image to be processed). However, I found that it only
ever increased the ISO to 200, even when the shutter speed
was greater than 1 second, resulting in blurred results. Also,
if you are more experienced, you will know how and when to
change the ISO speed yourself to compensate for poor lighting.
Therefore the Advanced Shake Reduction mode seems to be targetted
more at beginners, and is only genuinely useful in certain
situations.

Overall Image Quality

The Samsung NV10's image quality is below average. The Samsung
NV10's main drawback in terms of image quality is noise, with
ISO 200 showing some noise, particularly in shadow areas.
The noise gets progressively worse as you go from ISO 200
to ISO 400 and finally the pretty unusable ISO 800 and 1000
settings. The Samsung NV10 didn't handle chromatic aberrations
very well either, however, with purple fringing effects appearing
in high contrast situations. The 10 megapixel images were
sharp straight out of the camera at the default setting of
Normal, and you can change the in-camera sharpening level
if you wish. The night photograph was OK, with the maximum
shutter speed of 15 seconds allowing you to capture enough
light for most situations, but the resulting images were quite
noisy. Macro performance is above average, allowing you to
focus as close as 4cms away from the subject at the wide-angle
lens setting. Advanced Shake Reduction is a feature that promises
to set this camera apart from its competitors, but unfortunately
it seems to be little more than an automated way of increasing
the ISO speed. The pop-up flash unit worked well indoors,
with no red-eye and good overall exposure.

PhotographyBLOG
is a member of the DIWA
organisation. Our test results for the Samsung NV10 have been
submitted to DIWA
for comparison with test results for different samples of
the same camera model supplied by other DIWA
member sites.

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